The present invention relates to a mounting system for use with a vehicle and an object to be mounted on the vehicle, such as a vehicle seat, and more particularly, to a mounting system for a vehicle seat. The invention also includes a vehicle seat assembly including the mounting system.
Passenger vehicles commonly have xe2x80x9ctumble-forwardxe2x80x9d seats. Such seats are constructed so that they can be moved to an up-ended condition, so as to facilitate ingress and egress to and from the interior space in the vehicle to the rear of the seat. For this purpose, the seat frame is pivotally attached to the vehicle floor adjacent the seat front end and is releasably attached to the vehicle floor adjacent the seat rear end. Exemplary in this regard is U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,665 (Dingel et al.), issued Apr. 24, 2001.
Tumble-forward seats are often provided with folding functionality which permits the seat back to be folded forwardly to a collapsed position, whereat the seat back rests upon the seat cushion. Seats provided with this functionality (xe2x80x9cfold and tumble seatsxe2x80x9d) are advantageous since, when the seat back is at its collapsed position, release of the seat rear end permits the seat to be pivoted forwardly to an upfolded position, whereat the seat cushion is orientated substantially vertically, without the seat back projecting into the front portion of the vehicle interior. U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,051 (Sponsler et al.), issued Mar. 12, 1996 is exemplary in this regard.
The rear end of a typical tumble-forward seat (whether of the fold and tumble subspecies or not) is mounted to the vehicle floor by a pair of laterally-spaced latch hooks which are pivotable to respective engaged positions to engage corresponding mounting lugs presented by the vehicle floor. Exemplary in this regard is U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,051 (Sponsler et al.), issued Mar. 12, 1996. As is well-known in the art, the latch hooks forming said pair are typically connected to one another for simultaneous actuation, by a system of slave rods, slave cables or the like, to facilitate xe2x80x9csingle handle releasexe2x80x9d functionality, which among other things, improves the ergonomics of the design, with resultant consumer acceptance. In the Sponsler et al. reference, for example, a tie rod operatively couples a pair of cams, each of which act on a lobe formed on a respective latch hook to cause movement between engaged and disengaged positions thereof.
Devices which utilize only a single latch hook to mount the rear end of the seat to the vehicle are known in the prior art. This avoids the cost, weight and reliability issues associated with complicated systems of slave rods or the like, and achieves the desired single handle release functionality. However, in order to ensure that the seat does not become disengaged, particularly during frontal crash conditions, when loadings can be extreme, the construction of both the latch and the seat frame in such devices is typically more robust than that characteristic of devices incorporating paired latches (xe2x80x9cpaired-latch seat assembliesxe2x80x9d), which can have adverse impacts upon cost, if the seat frame is made more robust by the incorporation therein of advanced materials and manufacturing techniques, or can have adverse affects upon weight if the seat frame is made more robust by the provision of larger, more robust components. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,525 (Siebold), issued May 28, 2002, a relatively large pivot tube is employed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a mounting system which can be used with a seat member to provide a tumble-forward seat assembly which has single-handle release functionality and which is relatively economical to manufacture, relatively lightweight and relatively reliable in operation.
This object, among others, is achieved by the present invention.
According to one aspect, the invention comprises a mounting system for use with a vehicle and an object to be mounted on the vehicle, the object having a first portion and a second portion and the vehicle having a front end, a rear end, a longitudinal axis extending between the front end and the rear end and a lateral axis arranged substantially transverse to the longitudinal axis.
The mounting system comprises a mounting means for defining a lateral first pivot axis proximate to the vehicle and for mounting the first portion of the object on the vehicle for pivotal movement of the object about the first pivot axis to a design position.
The mounting system further comprises a latch member, a latch-engaging member, a striker pin and a striker plate.
The latch member, in use, is mounted on the second portion of the object.
The latch-engaging member, in use, is mounted on said vehicle and is adapted to selectively, securely engage with the latch member when the object at its design position.
The striker pin, in use, is rigidly mounted on the second portion of the object in laterally-spaced relation to the latch member.
The striker plate presents a slot having an open end and a closed end and further presents a socket arranged to one side of the slot and contiguous therewith. The striker plate is mounted, in use, on said vehicle at an operative position whereat the socket is disposed frontwardly relative to the slot and whereat the striker pin travels into the open end of the slot and along said slot to a design position, adjacent the closed end of the slot and longitudinally rearwardly adjacent to the socket, during said pivotal movement of the object to its design position.
The socket is shaped and dimensioned so as to permit, in use, under frontal crash conditions of the vehicle and by agency of deformation of said object, frontward longitudinal movement of the striker pin thereinto to a frontward limit position whereat the striker plate contacts the striker pin to arrest further frontward longitudinal movement of the striker pin.
According to another aspect of the invention, preferably, the striker plate presents a pair of sockets arranged in substantially opposed relation on opposite sides of the slot and contiguous therewith, the pair of sockets, in use, being disposed on opposite longitudinal sides of the slot and each being shaped and dimensioned so as to permit, in use, under rear and frontal crash conditions of the vehicle and by agency of deformation of said object, longitudinal movement of the striker pin thereinto to a rearward limit position and the frontward limit position, respectively, whereat the striker plate contacts the striker pin to arrest further longitudinal movement of the striker pin.
According to other aspects of the invention, the latch member preferably comprises a first latch hook pivotally mounted on the second portion of the object for selective movement between an engaged position and a disengaged position and the latch-engaging member comprises a lug member, the lug member being adapted to be selectively, securely engaged by the first latch hook upon movement of the first latch hook from the disengaged position to the engaged position.
According to another aspect, the invention also comprises a seat assembly to be mounted on a vehicle having a front end, a rear end, a longitudinal axis extending between the front end and the rear end and a lateral axis arranged substantially transverse to the longitudinal axis.
The seat assembly comprises a seat member including a support member having a first portion and a second portion. The seat assembly further comprises the aforesaid mounting system, in use with the seat member in such manner that the first portion of the support member defines the first portion of the object, the second portion of the support member defines the second portion of the object and the design position of the seat member is an occupiable position.
As other aspects, the first latch hook is preferably adapted to move from its engaged position towards its disengaged position under frontal deformation of the seat assembly into a deformed configuration, and a second latch hook is provided, which is pivotally mounted on the second portion of the support member for selective movement between an engageable position, whereat it securely engages the lug member when the seat assembly is in its deformed configuration, and a disengaged position, whereat it is removed from engagement with the lug member.
According to other aspects of the invention, the seat member preferably includes a seat cushion portion and a seat back portion, each of the support member, the seat cushion portion and the seat back portion having respective design positions defined by the design position of the seat member.
According to another aspect, the seat member preferably defines a second pivot axis which, when the seat cushion portion is disposed at its design position, is aligned substantially laterally and disposed adjacent the rear end of the seat cushion portion.
According to another aspect, the seat member is preferably adapted to provide for selective, reversible forward pivotal movement of the seat back portion, relative to the seat cushion portion and about the second pivot axis, from its design position to a collapsed position whereat it rests upon the seat cushion portion when the seat cushion portion is disposed at its design position.
According to another aspect of the invention, the seat member is preferably adapted to provide, when the seat back portion is disposed at its collapsed position, for contemporaneous, selective, reversible forward pivotal movement of the support member, the seat back portion and the seat cushion portion about the first pivot axis to respective upfolded positions, whereat the seat cushion portion is orientated substantially vertically and the seat back portion is disposed substantially frontwardly from the seat cushion portion.
According to another aspect of the invention, the seat cushion portion is preferably detachably connected to the support member and is adapted for movement, independent of the seat back portion and the support member, between its design position and a storage position, which is relatively frontwardly disposed from the design position of the seat cushion portion and whereat the seat cushion portion is orientated substantially vertically.
According to another aspect of the invention, when the seat cushion portion is at its storage position, the seat member is preferably adapted to provide for selective, reversible forward folding movement of the seat back portion about a lateral fourth pivot axis, disposed adjacent the second portion of the support member, from its design position to a fold-flat position whereat the seat back portion is nested rearwardly relative to the seat cushion portion and disposed in a substantially horizontal orientation.
According to another aspect of the invention, the seat member preferably further comprises a pair of seat back mounting assemblies, comprising a first seat back mounting assembly and a second seat back mounting assembly, each of said pair of seat back mounting assemblies including a distal portion securely attached to the seat back portion and a proximal portion mounted to the support member for pivotal movement about the fourth pivot axis, to provide for said selective pivotal movement of the seat back portion about the fourth pivot axis.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, preferably, the proximal portion of each seat back mounting assembly is a rotator arm and the distal portion is a seat back mounting bracket, the rotator arm and the seat back mounting bracket being mounted to one another for selective, relative pivotal movement about the second pivot axis, thereby to provide for said selective, reversible forward pivotal movement of the seat back portion about the second pivot axis.
According to other aspects of the invention, a guide slot is preferably formed through the rotator arm of the first seat back mounting assembly and a limit pin preferably rigidly extends from the support member into said guide slot.
The guide slot extends in an arcuate manner about the fourth pivot axis and circumscribes the movement of said rotator arm between a fold-flat position thereof, defined by the fold-flat position of the seat back portion, and a design position thereof, defined by the design position of the seat back portion.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, said selective, reversible forward folding movement of the seat back portion about the fourth pivot axis is preferably under control of a latch pawl, said latch pawl being mounted to the support member for pivotal movement between an engaged position, whereat it latchingly engages a corresponding pawl-receiving surface on the rotator arm of said first seat back mounting assembly to arrest movement of said rotator arm away from the design position thereof, and a disengaged position, whereat it is removed from contact with the pawl-receiving surface to permit movement of said rotator arm from its design position towards its fold-flat position.
According to yet another aspect, said selective, reversible forward pivotal movement of the seat back portion about the second pivot axis is under control of a pair of rotatable stop pawls, the rotatable stop pawls each being pivotally connected to a respective rotator arm for movement between an engaged position, whereat it engages a corresponding stop pawl-receiving surface on the seat back mounting bracket which is pivotally mounted to said each rotator arm, to arrest forward movement of said seat back mounting bracket away from its design position, and a disengaged position, whereat it is removed from contact with the stop pawl receiving surface to permit movement of said seat back mounting bracket towards a collapsed position thereof, defined by the collapsed position of the seat back portion.
Other advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as methods of operation and functions of the related elements of the structure, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are briefly described hereinbelow and wherein common reference numerals are used to denote like parts.